The MoFo Top 100 of the Forties: The Countdown

Meet Me In St. Louis

Told Citizen i'd post my thoughts about this so here you go. There's spoilers in this so don't read on if you haven't seen it don't want to ruin a film for people in a hall of fame i'm not even a member of haha.

This was great. Think it's well known that i really don't like musicals, with a few exceptions. Despite having the hallmarks of alot of the musicals i hate this is an exception. There was a few reasons for this: firstly and the main one was that during the non singing parts i was made to care about the story and characters for reasons i'll explain later this was crucial as it made it easier to take the songs as character/plot development rather than something really jarring that takes me out of the movie, secondly i was familiar already with quite a few songs just like with Singin' In The Rain i really hope this isn't something of importance with me as it's not the films fault that i don't already know the songs, thirdly and the least important was the fact that some of the songs weren't just characters bursting into song, a few of them were the family performing for guests or whatever which cut down on the amount of songs that could potentially take me out of the film. As well as that it had gorgeous cinematography and was really well shot, but i think that's something more independent of me enjoying it as a musical.

The first major scene which was one of my favourites showcases one of the reasons i really enjoyed it; it was funny. Not in a laugh out loud hilarious way but in a this is humourous thus making the film fun and pleasant to watch sort of way. I'm talking about the dinner scene, i really loved that part. Leon Ames who i've never heard of was great as the out of the loop, feared for apparently no reason since he had no problem with her answering the phone which essentially makes this whole part of the film pointless, father figure. I think this scene was very important for me, it made it clear that the film would only be loosely plotted with there always being lingering plot threads but for the most part it just focuses on the various shenanigans involving the family. That helped get me into the spirit of things early on. God then that halloween scene, brilliant. It was clear at all times that the kids were completely overreacting to everything yet it was played in a straight up dramatic, thriller-esque way as if they were actually in grave danger. Tootie running away from the neighbours house after flouring him revealing that he found it funny and the dog was harmless with the dramatic music was hysterical. It was just so absurd and it did a great job of capturing how a child sees things. "Tootie killed the Braukoff's single handed" Those were the two funniest parts of the film for me.

They also did a good job of mixing the humour with drama without cheapening the drama by making it silly. The most i laughed out loud in the film was when the father just told everyone they were moving to New York; the mother brought up chickens then the conversation split off in a few different directions and when the father brought it back to the chickens only to dismiss it as not a big concern the mother responded with "of course during a time like this you would talk about chickens". You also had Tootie mispronouncing "orphanage", can't remember what she said something like "i'd rather go to the ophlange than move to New York", whatever it was it made me laugh. It was actually quite a beautiful scene, up to that point i'd been feeling a little bad for the father. He was clearly a very hard working man and did love his family, due to his hardworking he was left out of alot of what was going on like the dinner scene as well as somewhat ostracized for having to make tough decisions. It's understandable on the family's part that they wouldn't just take to this massive shift in their lives without question but it still felt a bit harsh that again he was pushed out of the family and treated like the bad guy. Then the family came to join him when he was singing, it felt really nice like after some consideration they realized he was only trying to do what is best for them and that while they still aren't completely on board this was a small sign of support and genuine appreciation.

The scenes i've highlighted so far of course have the fact that there's very little or no singing in them in common but that's not to say i didn't enjoy any of the singing for example: the famous "clang clang clang went the trolley" scene is Remarkable. A few things make this work, firstly the chemistry between Judy Garland and Tom Grady in the last scene was good enough to set the romance up fairly well. I say fairly well because i do think a more natural meeting would have worked better, i get that they were trying to keep the humour going and for the most part they did a great job but it did cheapen the romance a bit for me, not too much just from very good if it was natural to fairly well since Esther had planned everything out. The second thing is that Judy doesn't sing at first, it was only maybe 30 seconds or a minute before she did but it built up her entrance and improved the payoff. This was because everyone else on the tram is a nobody, we are never going to know who they are or hear their stories so they all tend to blend together and within five minutes we won't remember what any of them looked like, their singing takes the same path; while technically fine it all blends into two voices with a male one and a female one like any choreographed group singing. With this Garland's iconic voice is amplified and it is also improved by her good acting; switching from depressed to upbeat when she notices him chasing the tram. No doubt the fact that i've heard the song a million times plays a part too but more than anything i think it was a very well made scene.

I liked Garland singing "have a merry christmas" at the end as well, not as much as the trolley song but again Garland has a great voice and it's a song i'm familiar with. Speaking of the ending, i didn't really like it. Not the very ending, the ending to the story i mean. It felt like it was in there to please the crowd with a happy ending, and it took away alot of the power of Garlands "have a merry christmas". That would've been the perfect ending to me with her gazing out the window not sure how life will be in this new chapter of her life, with a song that's not quite cheerful but not quite sad either; more in the middle which suits the unknown of her moving to New York. It felt a bit corny christmas special-ish too me. First of all Rose getting her proposal out of nowhere felt lazy, that was the big thing during the first act then it was mentioned a few times in passing throughout before we get a really hasty resolution... weak. Then the whole father changes his mind thing was corny as hell. Starting off with the overdramatic Tootie loses her mind and kills the snowmen where he looks out the window then the awful slow zoom in while he's sitting on his chair reflecting on the situation, and i didn't like his speech. Don't know it feels useless to complain about because i can't think of what would have been a better ending itself, i mean there's no way they were ever going to leave St. Louis with the films spirit being so deeply rooted there and i can't think of a better way of resolving it myself. Nevertheless i found it corny not that it ruined the film or anything, just a misstep at the finish line for me.

The performances were very good. Everyone, no complaints here. Every character had their moment and noone was unlikable. Something that i liked was Esther and Rose having a close supportive relationship too many films with sisters that age go for the easy sibling rivalry story so it was nice to see something different for once. Anyway, i liked this alot.